Here’s episode 3 of and John Public and Nah Right’s NahMean man-on-the-street opinion series. In this segment we tackle a sensitive topic: God and Hip-Hop.

John explains:

God and Hip-Hop have always had a complicated relationship. We wanted to explore first whether fans of the music wanted to talk about God, but also if the two can successfully co-exist in a mainstream capacity. What we found was unexpected: people WANTED to talk about it and there were a wide-range of opinions on the topic from both artists and fans that raised the question of if the industry and pop culture are truly in touch with what people on the corner and in their homes are talking about. This episode features Skyzoo, stic.man of Dead Prez and a good number of opinionated music consumers talking back and revealing some surprisingly honest perspectives on a topic considered taboo.

To be honest with you, although I’m happy with how this episode turned out, I was initially hesitant when John suggested this topic. Whereas we usually flesh these things out in a couple of e-mails or over Gtalk, we actually had to jump on the phone in order to discuss and agree on how to approach this topic. As somebody with strong personal feelings about the concept of a higher power, religion and spirituality, there are a bunch of opinions set forth in this clip that I disagree with, or just straight up feel are horse shit. I guarantee that had I been the one walking around interviewing people, half of those interviews probably would’ve ended in screaming matches…ha ha. So yeah, it’s probably better that John handles that portion of the series. I could probably argue talk about these topics for hours, but I learned a long time ago that it’s damn near pointless to argue with human beings about what they believe.

People who are “right with God” and understand what God wants for their life, will turn from this culture and listen to a stable genre of music. Hip hop community is too wishy washy. “Well.. if its good for you then it must be ok” …”a little of this is ok, but not to much”. God doesnt change. God isnt wishy washy. He’s firm and its a narrow path to be a real christian. A real christian that wants more than anything to please God will remove themselves from this culture. Thats why i listen to gospel music now. However i check nah right because i used to care so much about rap. I still love the culture, but really i know its not right, and i know its not what is best for my walk with Jesus. This decision was one of the hardest things ive ever done, cause like i said i loved hip hop and still do. But its just not pleasing to God. At the end of the day i care more about pleasing Jesus, the only man who has ever died for me than any earthly culture. peace. and GOD IS LOVE.

[…] some spit with him. The project will consist of 5 pairs of cuts with each pair based on or inspired by a past episode, for 12 tracks total with an intro and outro. The first two tracks can be found below. […]